The Touch and Smell of History: The Mini Museum's Traveling Unguentarium Exhibit

by: Jodi Battershell

On July 1, a customary USPS Priority Mail box arrived at my doorstep. On any other day, the cheerful red, white and blue box might contain clothes or shoes or maybe some gadget I purchased on eBay. I'm sure my letter carrier had no idea he had just delivered what is, without a doubt, the most interesting piece of mail I have ever received: The Mini Museum of Perfume HIstory's Unguent, Unguentarium and Utraveling exhibit!

Inside the box were three smaller boxes (two of wood, one of hard plastic with a metal lid) wrapped in copious amounts of bubble wrap, a silk pouch with tiny glass vials of fragrance and a folder that explained all the contents.

The Mini Museum's traveling exhibit included an ancient Roman unguentarium from the 1st century AD, and two other ancient lachryamtory dating back to the 1st-2nd centuries AD, as well as a fragrant unguent (oil) composed of ingredients that would have been used in ancient Roman times, along with a more modern variation on the same fragrant notes. The exhibit, which rolled out in January this year, had already logged 32,507 miles before it made its way to me in the City of Brotherly Love, on a hot July day in 2015.

How does it feel to hold a 2,000-year-old object in your hands?

Well, it is humbling.

When things don't go my way, I try to put things in perspective and remind myself that only one seven billionth of all that happened in the world today is about me. Holding these ancient vessels, I ponder how that already small number gets even smaller when we take into account the whole of human history on this planet. 

I thought about the makers of these vessels, long passed from the earth, along with the empires in which they worked and lived. I marveled at what the vessels might have contained, who might have used them and treasured them over the years. (One of the previous stops for the exhibit was with psychic Heather Tobin, which provides some interesting food for thought.)

(Also, I won't lie: holding it was a bit nerve-wracking. I didn't want to be the one who might accidentally destroy an object that has already managed to survive thousands of years and has traveled thousands of miles just to sit on my table and rest in my hot little hands for a picture. My husand and I handled each bottle with utmost care and removed them from their protective cases as minimally as possible.)

THE VESSELS

All three tiny vessels are made of blown glass, faintly green in color. I was not aware that glass-blowing technology existed in ancient Rome, but the exhibit materials indicated glass-blowing was discovered in about 50 B.C.  In keeping with The Mini Museum's focus, all three are very much minis.

The delicate unguentarium (above), affecionately dubbed "Helena" by The Mini Museum, packed carefully in a special velvet-lined wooden box and further cushioned by sand (opening it was sort of a mini "archaeological dig") fits in the palm of my hand, at just 1.68 inches high and one inch wide. The bottle has a rough surface with visible tiny markings (or perhaps just imperfections inherent in the artisanal glass-blowing process"), all of which add to its charm and beauty.

"Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into Thy bottle: are they not in Thy book?"—King David, Psalm 56:8, King James Version

The above biblical reference attributed to King David suggests how lachryamtories—"tear holders"—may have been used. Though lachrymatories are frequently unearthed at ancient gravesites, no historical evidence that they were used to catch the tears of grieving family and friends has ever been found. The two lachryamtories are slightly longer than the unguentarium and more intensely colored. Both are very slender and each likely holds a few ml of liquid at most—perhaps a perfume, unguent or some cosmetic preparation in ancient Roman times. The elongated necks, the gentle shaping in the thicker bottle and the more refined lip in the longer bottle suggest that glass-blowing techniques and skills were improving over time.

THE FRAGRANCES

Natural perfumer Amanda Feeley of Esscentual Alchemy collaborated with The Mini Museum to create an olfactory component for the traveling exhibit.

As an experienced natural perfumer already well-versed in ancient perfume-making processes, Amanda began by holding the Helena vessel and meditating on it. Eventually, she "felt an image of a woman in a garden on a warm, spring day," and turned her focus to creating a fragrance which corresponded to the image, keeping in mind the materials and techniques that would have been available to an ancient Roman perfumer. The end result is also called Helena and it's an ungent (oil-based perfume) which incorporates timeless perfumery ingredients that still resonate with modern perfume lovers, 2,000+ years later.

Helena's notes includes frankincense, sandalwood, tolu balsam, ladanum, myrrh, rose, jasmine, orris, marjoram, black pepper and clary sage. The fragrance is a parfum extrait, very thick and viscous at 30% concentration, with an intense golden color.  

Keeping in mind the 21st-century perfume consumer, Amanda also created a more modern version of Helena, called Helena MMXIV, which swaps out the spicy notes for rosewood and phenyl ethyl alcohol, a natural isolate with a pleasant floral aroma.  Helena MMXIV is an alcohol-based eau de parfum.

My husband and I sampled each perfume several times. I took a liking to the originalHelena fragrance. The oil base and high concentration of aroma components manifests on my skin as a pleasant floriental with jasmine as the dominant note. My husand prefered the dry, woodier aspects and greater "lift" provided by the alcohol base of Helena MMXIV. Both scents are comfortably unisex, very wearable and have definite appeal for perfume lovers in the 21st century.

In keeping with the theme of the exhibit, Helena and Helena MMXIV are available for purchase as 5 ml minis from Esscentual Alchemy and The Miniature Perfume Shoppe.

I appreciated the opportunity to touch and smell history that the Unguent, Unguentarium and U exhibit provided. Thank you to The Mini Museum for your trust in sending these precious objects for my enjoyment and to share with Fragrantica readers. Thank you to Amanda Feeley for creating beautiful perfumes that give another dimension to the exhibit.

As of last report, the exhibit was on its way to California for another perfume lover to experience and share. The Mini Museum of Perfume History and Amanda Feeley will also be hosting events locally, and future exhibit recipients include Cleveland's Indigo Perfumery. You can follow the exhibit's travels and look for a locally scheduled event on The Mini Museum's USA Tour page.

Official Exhibit image: The Mini Museum; all other images: Jodi Battershell